Deferral and instalment payment of taxes

A deferral moves a tax payment to one date, while an instalment plan divides it into several payments. The term is normally changed for no more than one year (art. 97 TC), but a local Kengash or the Cabinet of Ministers may grant a longer period within its authority.

In brief:

• For an ordinary application, the taxpayer must prove a temporary inability to pay and a realistic ability to settle the debt during the changed term.
• A decision may cover all or part of the debt and one or more taxes; it does not extinguish the tax obligation.
• Notification routes exist for certain property taxes, businesses with income up to UZS 10 billion and amounts assessed after a tax inspection.
• Filing an application alone does not stop late-payment interest; a temporary suspension during review must be requested separately.
• The taxpayer’s main task is to identify the correct ground, assemble the evidence at once and propose a workable schedule.

Updated: 04 September 2026

How a deferral differs from an instalment plan

Under a deferral, the agreed amount is paid once on the new date. Under an instalment plan, it is paid in parts according to an approved schedule. The due date may be changed for an existing debt or for payments arising after the decision, in whole or in part. The change may cover one or several taxes; it neither cancels the obligation nor creates a new one. This due-date procedure (art. 97 TC) also applies to late-payment interest and fines.

The general limit is one year. Exceptions depend on the authority and the legal route, not on the label used for the document: a local Kengash may grant up to two years, the Cabinet of Ministers up to three years, and customs payments are governed separately. This chapter does not apply to tax agents. VAT or profit tax collected as an agent at source therefore cannot automatically be included in the taxpayer’s application concerning its own debt.

Who decides and for how long

The authority is selected by the type of tax, not by the office where filing seems easier. The allocation of authority (art. 99 TC) is as follows:

The due date for profit tax payable by a consolidated group cannot be changed. An applicant to the Tax Committee must also check whether the particular payment falls within an exclusion. For example, the taxpayer’s own VAT and VAT remitted in its capacity as tax agent are not treated alike for this procedure.

Grounds for a tax deferral or instalment plan

The general test has two parts: the financial position currently prevents timely payment, but there are sufficient grounds to expect settlement within the changed term. The Tax Code lists these grounds (art. 100 TC):

1. Loss caused by a natural disaster, technological accident or another force-majeure event.
2. Delayed budget or targeted-fund financing, payment for a completed public contract, or services delivered for state or local-government needs.
3. A risk of insolvency if the entire amount is paid at once.
4. A business has operated for more than three years, paid assessed taxes on time in prior periods and cannot now settle the debt because of its financial position.
5. State registration of rights to land, a building or structure with a total area exceeding 1,000 m², for the separate property-tax notification route.
6. Aggregate income in the previous year of no more than UZS 10 billion, for the separate VAT and profit-tax notification route subject to statutory exclusions.
7. An individual’s property position prevents payment in one amount; property immune from enforcement is excluded from the assessment.
8. Production or sale of goods, work or services is seasonal.
9. A ground exists under customs legislation.
10. The debtor is subject to judicial rehabilitation or external administration.

For the grounds involving force majeure, insolvency, the position of an established business, an individual’s property, seasonality and customs, the relief amount is limited. For a legal entity, it cannot exceed net asset value; for an individual, it cannot exceed the value of property available for enforcement.

The taxpayer must separately check the statutory bars (art. 98 TC). As a general rule, relief is unavailable where a relevant tax criminal case has been opened; there is sufficient reason to believe the applicant will conceal assets or depart for permanent residence abroad; an earlier deferral or instalment plan was terminated for breach within the previous three years; or the person has been declared bankrupt. A high tax-risk rating excludes the property notification route. The Cabinet of Ministers may depart from these bars.

When a notification is sufficient

A notification replaces an ordinary application only in cases expressly specified by law. It does not allow every taxpayer to choose a term and schedule unilaterally.

When rights to land, buildings or structures with a total area over 1,000 m² are registered, a business may notify the authority within three months after state registration. Land and property tax calculated from the registered area or value may then be deferred for six months without a pledge. This route is unavailable to enterprises with more than 50 per cent state ownership, subsoil users, excise-goods producers and high-risk taxpayers. After the deferral, the debt is repaid in twelve equal instalments, with interest at half the Central Bank rate. A sale or lease of the property during the deferral makes the full debt payable.

A VAT or profit-tax payer whose aggregate income for the previous year did not exceed UZS 10 billion may notify the tax authority within one month after the debt arises. Enterprises with at least 50 per cent state ownership, subsoil users and excise-goods producers are excluded. When the right is used only once in a calendar year, the taxpayer receives a six-month interest-free period.

Legal entities and individual entrepreneurs may notify the authority and divide certain assessments into six equal monthly payments. The route covers additional taxes and financial sanctions following a tax audit, additional taxes following a desk audit, and financial sanctions following an on-site inspection. It is a special schedule for assessed amounts, not a basis for postponing unrelated current payments.

Documents required with the application

The standard package substantiates the debt amount, cash flows and the ability to follow the schedule. The document list (art. 101 TC) includes:

• a statement from the tax authority showing settlements of taxes, late-payment interest and fines;
• a tax-authority statement listing all open bank accounts;
• bank information on monthly turnover during the preceding six months and on the presence or absence of payment documents in the unpaid-documents index;
• bank statements of balances in every account;
• a written undertaking to comply with the terms and a proposed repayment schedule;
• evidence specific to the ground relied upon.

Force majeure requires a finding that the event occurred and an assessment of the loss. Delayed financing requires confirmation from the finance authority stating the ground and unpaid amount. The Tax Committee determines insolvency risk from a financial-condition analysis. An individual provides details of movable and immovable property. For seasonality, the applicant demonstrates that at least 50 per cent of total income derives from seasonal activities included in the Cabinet of Ministers list.

For a compliant business operating for more than three years, the instalment amount cannot exceed 50 per cent of taxes paid during the preceding three years. The application also contains an undertaking to pay interest. At the authority’s request, the applicant supplies documents for pledged property, a surety or a bank guarantee.

Since 1 September 2026, applications have been filed electronically through the tax authorities’ public e-services portal. The review period under the new rule is 20 days. For portal filings, this later special rule replaced the general 30-day period that remains visible in the Tax Code text.

Before the final decision, the applicant may separately request temporary suspension of the debt under consideration. The authority may grant that request, but the filing of the application itself has no such effect. The applicant sends a copy of the temporary-suspension decision to the tax authority where it is registered within five days.

When interest and security are required

Interest depends on the ground. No relief interest is charged for force-majeure loss or delayed public financing or payment. The full Central Bank refinancing rate applies to the insolvency-risk ground, financial difficulty of a business operating for more than three years, an individual’s property ground, seasonality and the customs ground. The property notification route uses half the rate (art. 100 TC). The UZS 10 billion route gives six interest-free months when used only once during the calendar year.

An ordinary decision may be secured by a pledge of property, a surety or a bank guarantee. A guarantee must be irrevocable and non-transferable, cover the tax and late-payment interest, and remain valid for at least six months (art. 107 TC) after the secured due date.

Another route has applied since 1 September 2026. A tax authority grants a deferral or instalment plan regardless of financial position and the existence of special circumstances when the taxpayer provides pledged property, a bank guarantee or an insurance policy. The amount, tax, term and schedule must still be determined.

Worked example

Assume an entrepreneur receives a six-month property-tax deferral for UZS 120,000,000. After it ends, the principal is divided into 12 parts: 120,000,000 / 12 = UZS 10,000,000 per month. Interest calculated at half the applicable Central Bank rate for the relevant period is added to each part. If the property is sold or leased before the deferral ends, the taxpayer cannot wait for the 12-month schedule: the balance becomes payable in full.

What happens during review and relief

Filing the application does not itself stop late-payment interest. As a general rule, it accrues from the day after the due date for every calendar day at one three-hundredth of the rate (art. 110 TC). Only a separate decision on the taxpayer’s request can suspend payment during review. The date of that decision therefore affects the amount placed on the schedule.

The changed term applies to the payments specified in the decision. The taxpayer continues to calculate other taxes, pay current amounts and file returns; legal entities and individual entrepreneurs generally file them in electronic form (art. 82 TC). The payment calendar should show the relief separately from new obligations.

A special rule applies during judicial rehabilitation or external administration. Current tax payments are suspended except personal income tax on employment and civil-law-contract payments and social tax. Once rehabilitation is approved by the court or external administration ends, the accumulated amounts are paid in six equal monthly parts.

How relief ends and a refusal is challenged

A deferral or instalment plan ends when its term expires, or earlier when the taxpayer pays the entire debt and interest. If the conditions are breached, the authority may terminate the decision early. The remaining debt and late-payment interest must then be paid within one month (art. 102 TC); late-payment interest runs from the day after the termination decision through payment. A copy of the decision or notice is sent within five days, and overdue relief interest may be recovered compulsorily.

A refusal and an early termination may be challenged. An administrative complaint is addressed to the superior authority but filed through the authority that made the decision; that authority must forward it within three days (art. 63 of the Law). If the administrative result is unsatisfactory, the decision may generally be challenged in an administrative court within 30 days (art. 69 of the Law), unless a special rule prescribes a different period.

How customs instalments differ

Customs payments are subject to a separate regime. The ordinary period is 14 to 60 calendar days. Certain producers importing goods for production, and micro and small businesses, farms and dehkan farms importing production goods for their own needs, may receive up to 120 days. The customs authority decides within five working days (art. 330 CC); the application includes a written payment undertaking and a security document.

An importer that has operated for more than three years, paid mandatory payments on time and now faces temporary financial difficulty may receive up to six months without security. The amount cannot exceed 50 per cent of customs payments made during the preceding three years. Customs refuses relief if the applicant does not meet the application requirements (art. 331 CC) and security requirements, or if customs-payment debt already exists on the filing date.

Interest is generally calculated at half the Central Bank refinancing rate. It is paid before or together with the principal. Breach of the approved schedule makes the entire secured amount (art. 332 CC) recoverable, so tax and customs instalment plans should not be administered as one schedule.

What changed in 2025–2026

• Decree UP-250 of 17 December 2025 introduced, from 1 March 2026, an interest-free period of up to 14 days for a preliminary declaration filed before goods reach the border and, from 1 June 2026, customs-duty deferral or instalments of up to 120 days for businesses.
• Decree UP-78 of 6 May 2026 introduced electronic filing through the tax portal and reduced the application review period from 30 to 20 days from 1 September 2026. It also expanded district and city Kengash authority and introduced the secured route regardless of financial position and the existence of special circumstances.

Checks before filing

First separate tax debt from customs payments and identify the tax concerned. Then compare the circumstances with the closed lists of grounds and bars, choose an application or notification, and confirm the authority’s jurisdiction. In an ordinary application, the amount and term must be supported by financial data, and the schedule should identify a realistic source for each payment.

Do not merge a request for an instalment plan with a request to suspend payment while the application is reviewed. If suspension is needed, include a separate request and monitor delivery of the decision copy to the tax authority. After relief is granted, enter principal, relief interest and current-tax dates in separate calendars: the new due date does not cancel filing duties or obligations omitted from the decision.

Frequently asked questions

Can a taxpayer obtain instalments without a pledge?

Yes, when the statutory ground applies and the authority does not require security, or when a special notification route applies. For example, the six-month deferral for newly registered large real estate is available without a pledge, while a compliant importer operating for more than three years may qualify for customs relief without security within the statutory cap. Under an ordinary application, the authority may require a pledge, surety or bank guarantee. Since 1 September 2026, security also creates a separate route regardless of financial position.

Does an application stop late-payment interest?

No. Filing alone neither stops late-payment interest nor changes the due date. The taxpayer may submit a separate request to suspend the debt under consideration while the application is reviewed. Suspension begins only after a decision by the competent authority, and a copy must be provided to the tax authority where the taxpayer is registered within five days. Without that decision, late-payment interest continues under the general rule until the due date is changed or payment is made.

How is the interest-free UZS 10 billion route used?

The right is available to VAT or profit-tax payers whose aggregate income in the preceding year did not exceed UZS 10 billion. A notification is filed within one month after the debt arises. The route excludes enterprises with at least 50 per cent state ownership, subsoil users and excise-goods producers. Six interest-free months are available only if the taxpayer uses the right once during the calendar year.

Can an instalment plan be repaid early?

Yes. Full early payment of the debt and accrued relief interest terminates the decision. Before paying, the taxpayer should reconcile principal, relief interest and late-payment interest because each amount is calculated separately. If the authority instead terminates the decision for breach of schedule, another rule applies: the balance and late-payment interest must be paid within one month after the termination decision, and overdue relief interest may be recovered compulsorily.

Where is a refusal challenged?

An administrative complaint is filed through the authority that issued the refusal and addressed to its superior authority. The issuing authority forwards the complaint and case materials within three working days. After administrative review, the applicant may bring a claim in the administrative court; the general period is 30 calendar days after proper notice of the complaint decision unless a special rule sets another period. The complaint should distinguish disputes about the ground, documents, amount and security.